When Catherine woke up, she was tied up and seated on a chair. Alfred and Vivian were both there. The other family members have been removed.
Catherine’s mouth was gagged, so she could only move her eyes to see both of them.
“Catherine, we’re sorry. There was no other way,” said Vivian.
“Catherine, we don’t want to keep you tied up like this,” said Alfred. “We wish we could release you. But we can’t release you if you are going to harm the people in this castle.”
“If only you would promise not to hurt my family,” said Vivian. “Then maybe we could release you. But…” Vivian suddenly stopped speaking. She turned to Alfred. “If there was a magically binding oath, we could get Catherine to take it.”
“Possibly,” said Alfred. “If there was such an oath.”
“Aunt Catherine,” said Vivian, “Would you be willing to swear an oath in exchange for being set free? Blink once for yes, and twice for no.”
Catherine blinked no.
“Catherine, be reasonable,” said Alfred. “We want to set you free. We don’t enjoy keeping you like this.”
“We’re not going to ask you to give up your throne,” said Vivian. “This isn’t like last time when my father deposed you. You can keep your throne. You just have to swear not to harm our family.”
Catherine thought, then blinked yes.
“Now, we need to check and see if there is an oath.”
“We need to check the library,” said Alfred. “That’s where Catherine herself learned most of her magic.”
“I wish we could just ask her,” said Vivian.
“It’s too dangerous,” said Alfred. “If we were to loosen her gag, she could curse us with the magic just as well as help us.”
“Yes, you’re right, of course,” said Vivian. “Of course, all spells require hand gestures as well, and we have her hands tied up. Although she can still wiggle her fingers. There are some spells that she could perform just with her fingertips, but not very many. I don’t think she could do any major spells with just her fingers free.” Vivian thought some more. “I suppose,” she said, “that I could use one of the immobilizing spells to freeze up her hands and fingers. Then it would probably be safe to ungag her.”
“You know more about this stuff than I do,” said Alfred. “But be careful. If we mess this up and she gets loose, we’ll not going to have a second chance.”
“I think I know what I’m doing,” said Vivian. “Forgive me Aunt Catherine.” Vivian then chanted the spell, and froze up Catherine’s hands. Then, she took off the gag.
Catherine glared at them even after the gag was removed.
Alfred spoke first. “Catherine, please find it in your heart to forgive us. We don’t want to harm you. We simply wish to protect everyone from you.”
“If everyone would simply obey me, we would have no problem,” said Catherine. “I am the rightful queen of this castle.”
“What’s happened to you?” said Alfred. “You never used to be this unreasonable. Has the magic really eroded your mind that much? Is there no way to cure you, and bring you back to the way you were before?”
“I do not wish to be brought back to the way I was before,” Catherine responded.
Alfred looked at Vivian. “I don’t know the answer to that,” answered Vivian. “I am still new to all this magic myself.”
“Who would know, then?” Alfred asked. And then he seemed to have found the answer. “The witches!” he exclaimed. “The witches up on the mountain.”
“Do you mean the mountain top that you and my father grew up on?” asked Vivian.
“Yes,” said Alfred. “It is many days’ journey from here.”
“Don’t worry about that,” said Vivian. “I can fly us there with the magic spells.”
“I’m not sure if they will be willing to help us,” Alfred said. “But it’s worth a try.”
“What shall we do with Catherine, then? Shall we leave her here to be guarded in this castle?”
“We should get rid of all the goblins first,” said Alfred. “Catherine still has too many
helpers in this castle. Could we take her with us?”
Vivian thought for a minute. “I think I can,” she said. “I can only work one spell at a time. But I should be able to levitate something. If there is some sort of rock or other surface that we could all stand on, then I could levitate that.”
“Well done,” said Catherine bitterly. “I see you figured it out without my assistance.”
“Okay,” said Alfred. “Then what kind of surface should we stand on?”
“Perhaps we can borrow one of the kitchen tables,” said Vivian.
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